Leviathan
by Penelope Jadewing
Summary: Every man in every aspect of life has a Dragon. And there comes a time, in every corner of the world, during which each man must face his Dragon. Be it a cancer, a family member, or a long-hidden secret. And in that confrontation, it is then that man learns what he values most. What he loves, what he lives for... and what he's willing to die for.
1. Prologue

**A/N: I got this idea from one of my favorite sci-fi novels, ****_Leviathan _****by James Byron Huggins. If you want a book filled with intrigue, danger, sci-fi, technology, mad scientists, government experiments running amok and deeper meaning? That's the book for you. As always, I hope you enjoy this story. Please review! Joe's (attempting) to make cookies for those that do! ^.^**

_Prologue_

"I figured it out."

The old man, looking frailer by the second, took in a deep, wheezing breath, the only sound, ominous in the silence of the confined quarters. Beside him, kneeling beside the gurney, a younger man – perhaps twenty or twenty-one – remained silent, letting the sickly man grip his strong, calloused hand in a withered, pale one. Brown eyes stared at glassy blue ones, blinking slowly. The old man could see the calculating, the raw intelligence rushing behind those dark eyes, and he knew that he had made a good choice, for certain, in confiding in this young one. A cough racked his skeletal frame, and he turned his head, if only to avoid the pained look he knew would break those eyes' firm concentration.

"I figured… it out." The elder moaned quietly, closing his burning eyes as he lifted his face toward the ceiling. The grip on his hand tightened, and he cracked his eye again, knowing that each and every time he let his lids flutter closed, the other would worry that it would be the last time he ever did so. But he wasn't about to go; no, not until he had passed everything he knew to this rising genius.

"I knew… too much…" he rasped, looking earnestly up into the face that looked upon him with such respect and concern. "I would not… comply. They had to be rid of me… They won this round."

Dark brows furrowed, and the youth's shoulders went rigid. "What are you talking about?" The normally strong baritone voice was but a shaky whisper.

"You must beware… They know. They know!" He tried to grip the unblemished hand tighter, but could not summon the strength. Unblemished… save a single scar across the back… "They will try to take it from you…"

The youth's brow furrowed deeper. "Take what, Wit? Take what?"

"I have passed this project… to you… in my will. They will find a loophole… They will try to take it from you. But you must… you must remain… strong. Do not… Do not let them…" The old man's eyes grew wide, and he gazed at the younger man with steadiness that surprised even him. "They do not care… They do not see the dangers; they have blinded themselves! But you… You know… You _see_… Stop them. Before… it's too late…" He took a deep breath; he felt darkness looming over him.

The young man gripped his hand tighter, urgently. "Wit! What do you mean, the dangers? I don't know what you're saying!"

"Frank… Stop… it… before…" Breath escaped him. The room exploded in a waterfall of darkness, and light. He was lifted, flying, singing…

~HB~

The funeral hadn't done him justice. Not by a long shot. None of the details inscribed in the will were followed, not even the transporting of his body back to the States. 'Too risky', they said. The Feds. 'People will ask questions.'

Frank clenched his jaw. Of course they will, when he supposedly died of a stroke after he'd been perfectly healthy all his life. Never suffered a heart attack, never had issues with blood clots, never struggled with weight, blood pressure, or diabetes. Dr. Whittaker had been the healthiest person Frank had ever known. He new how to take care of his body, no matter its age, and he'd been sharp as a tack and twice as plucky just the day before he died. And then there were the warnings of his dying breaths…

It didn't make sense. Who had Wit been talking about? Who would try to find a loophole?

Who would try to take it?

Frank sat quietly beside the blank headstone, on the Surface for the first time in months. Minutes could turn so easily to years in the depths of the world, away from it all, away from the sun and the moon and stars. He'd almost forgotten what it felt like to have the sun pouring down on him like pure gold from heaven, to feel the rush of the breeze as it combed through his hair, cooled his skin. He plucked at the grass beneath his folded feet, under his jean-clad knees.

Jeans. Seemed like forever since he'd strayed from the accepted iron-pressed slacks, dress shirt and lab coat. Jeans and T-shirt felt… good. Loose. Casual.

Free.

Just as Wit had said, and stated so in his will, the position of Lead Scientist had fallen to Frank after the funeral. Much of the staff had taken it with ease, but… There were those select few… Those who sided with the government. 'The position is not a transferrable one' they claimed. 'It is a government position, and will be filled with one whom the government deems deserving.'

Bologna. Wit had been suspicious of them for a reason… Now it was up to Frank to find out why.

After all, whether it had ended up as his chosen field or not, a Hardy was a Hardy. And no matter how hard he tried, when it came right down to it, a Hardy could never resist a mystery.


	2. Chapter 1: Restless

**A/N: First chappie for you guys, since it was just the prologue. I'm trying to juggle two HB fanfics at once... and I really want to work on the other one... but this plot bunny wouldn't leave me be! So I had to let some of it out.**

_Chapter 1:_

_Restless_

It was sleeping. Its body, rigid, harder than steel relaxed for the moment, broad ribcage expanding and shrinking with each deep breath. Frank watched closely through the three-foot panel of bulletproof, heat-resistant glass as it sprawled over its bed of stone. He could almost see the heat radiating from its body.

Many animals, while they slept, people called them cute and adorable. Not this one. Seventeen tons of pure muscle mass and scales harder than the thickest armored tank, twenty-eight feet from nose to tail, superheated with the body temperature of an active volcano. And they said it was sleeping; the Beast never slept. It rested, it meditated, it rejuvenated. Didn't sleep.

Frank shook his head to himself; six years of working on this project and he still didn't feel like he could take his eyes off of it for even a minute. There was far too much at stake…

"Dr. Hardy?"

He glanced back after a moment's hesitation, tearing his gaze from the sleeping creature to the source of the call.

Summer Hill stood beside him, icy blue eyes upturned and studying him, her dark brows furrowed with concern. "Are you… all right?"

He allowed himself a small smile, looking back down into the Pit. "Yeah… Yeah, I am. Thank you, Hill."

"You looked like you saw something you weren't sure you wanted to." Her glance shifted between his face and the beast far below. Trust her to completely ignore his excuses; not only was she one of the smartest scientists on staff, but her degree in psychology was not to be trifled with. She was in charge of reading and predicting the Beast's behavior, after all. "Care to elaborate?"

He glanced around, at the meandering scientists, the occasional military personnel, the flickering lights over their heads. The blink of lights on the control boards, the beep of answered commands, the quiet mutter of voices. A frown creased his brow, and he picked up the headset from the countertop in front of him. He just had to be sure…

"Computer, respond."

_Voice recognized as Dr. Frank Hardy. Awaiting command._

"Leviathan's status."

_Leviathan is in Hybernation. Leviathan's heart rate is 276 beats per minute. Leviathan's core temperature is 5,039 degrees, and rising. Leviathan's brain activity is at 67 hertz and increasing._

Frank leaned back on his heels, folding one arm over his chest and resting his chin in his other hand. His gaze was ever drawn to the mass lying at the bottom of the Pit. He felt his head shaking. "Status on Leviathan's internal workings."

_Leviathan's core has no malfunctions. Body functions continue as normal. Repeat statistics from last report?_

"Negative. Moniter Leviathan's stats; alert Dr. Hardy of any change."

The computer fell silent, and Frank slowly pulled set the headset down again.

"Dr. Hardy…"

He didn't respond. Could only stare down, down in the depths, at the creature…

"Doctor?"

He looked up, turning to Hill once more. Again, the tension in his forehead released once he had torn his gaze from the beast. "Yes, Hill?"

She looked genuinely concerned. "What's wrong? You checked the Beast's status just yesterday… It hasn't done anything since then. It's just… sleeping."

"Yeah, that's what worries me." He stepped away from the glass, trying to escape the constant temptation to peer down, just to be sure it hadn't moved. "It hasn't awakened in almost a month."

"It's in Hybernation; SAM just said so."

"Yes, but why?" Frank had never been one for intuition; that was his brother's thing. But every so often, there were times that even he could not deny the creeping feeling in his spine, the sinking of his gut, the pulsing of his heart. Something just didn't _feel _right. Not in the least. Something radiated from that Pit like nothing he'd ever felt before. "Why is it in Hybernation?"

She frowned up at him, looking at him like he was delirious, like he should already know the answer. "It's programmed to Hybernate to restore energy; you know this, you helped design it! Why are you so paranoid?" Her tone had taken on a scolding tone, which he deftly ignored.

"Call it a hunch. Comes from having private investigation as an early career." Frank leaned his palms on the control board, looking over the keyboards and screens. He tapped the screen he had happened to face, and brought up a ground view of the beast. For all intents and purposes, it looked utterly asleep, lost in some distant dream world. He stared close, watching the twitching of its thick, closed eyelids. "What are you up to…"

"Doctor, it's an animal…"

"You know as well as I do that that's not true." He looked back at her with a hardness to his gaze, and she drew back a hair. He was in no joking mood. With equal, but fading ferocity, he looked back at the screen, gaze going over every inch of scaly hide, furry fringes and spiny frills for any clues, any hints as to what was going on.

Leviathan was the most intelligent beast created. And everyone who had ever worked with it, especially the Head of Psychology, knew that.

_Leviathan's heart rate increasing._

Frank looked up, paling instantly and snatching up the headset. He adjusted the microphone, and pressed the earpiece closer to his head. "SAM, register voice key."

_Voice key registered. Awaiting command from Dr. Hardy._

"Give me Leviathan's status again."

_Leviathan is waking from Hybernation._

The entire laboratory went dead silent, and somewhere in the back, glass shattered. A coffee cup on the floor. Then, chaos. Scientists and other personnel rushed to their stations, caught unawares by the unexpected announcement. Frank himself made his way to the Primary Command post, sitting at the central seat and pulling up a touch screen.

"Time until full awareness?"

_5.32 seconds._

"It's waking awfully fast," Hill muttered, leaning over Frank's shoulder to watch as he opened the Pit's control panel on the screen.

"I know, I know…" He stared between his screen, and the panel of glass just in front of him, designed to let him look right down into the Pit to monitor the Beast's activity. Down below, the Beast had readjusted itself, but had yet to move to get up.

_Leviathan is at full awareness. Heart rate at 300 beats per minute and rising. Core temperature at 5,759 degrees. Brain activity: 112 hertz and increasing._

Frank pulled up another screen of the Pit, intent on a closer view of the beast. He zoomed in, and suddenly leaned back in the chair, face pale.

The Beast was staring right at the camera. Its golden eyes, slits narrow, stared up at them. Its tail flicked back and forth, nervously, calculatingly. Frank stared back, knowing it couldn't see him, yet feel its gaze pierce his soul anyway. He swallowed on impulse, and with trembling hands, navigated the controls to bring up a live feed on Leviathan's levels. The heart rate had stabilized at 304 beats per minute, and the core temperature had done the same at 5,800 degrees. Its mental activity levels, however, were increasing by the second, and peaking at a massive 200 hertz, the highest it had been in months.

Frank released something of a cross between a dry laugh, and a pathetic whimper. This was not normal. This was not normal! What was going on? Wit had never mentioned anything about this…

Had he?

"Doctor, it's getting up!"

Indeed it was. Frank swallowed again, trying to rid his throat of its constricted feeling as he stared down into the Pit. "I see that."

Leviathan rose heavily to its feet, swaying with its massive bulk and rearing its horned head. It had turned away from the camera, and now looked directly up at the viewing panel, where numerous scientists looked down upon it. Its gaze, cold and glowing with intelligence, settled right on Frank, and didn't move again.

"What's it doing?" Hill's voice shook, and dark circles had appeared under her eyes as the color fled her cheeks. "Frank…"

Very few times did she call him by his first name anymore, and this time was one of the worst. The raw vulnerability it in stirred something deep inside him, something that had long been tucked away in the far recesses of his heart, and he felt that urge, that need to protect her and everyone else in the room, in the facility. Because something was wrong with Leviathan; no, it wasn't sick, it wasn't in pain.

It was angry.

"LOOK OUT!"

He looked up in time to see white-hot liquid burst across the viewing panel. The temperature of the room spiked instantly, and everyone who was near the glass felt their skin singe before they staggered back and away. Steam came up from… somewhere, and the metal around the window grew red within seconds. Frank squinted against the light, stomach clenching. Wait… that wasn't liquid… That was _flame_.

"Get back! Everyone get back!" he screamed out over the chaos, and held the headset to the side of his head. "Computer, lower emergency firewalls for Observation Room! Now!"

Black sheets of metal slammed shut in every available viewing space into the Pit with bangs that made everyone jump, and it took several long moments for all to calm down once more.

_Emergency firewalls lowered._

"Status on Leviathan."

_Leviathan is attacking viewport. Core temperature is lowering. Leviathan is using flame attacks._

"Flame attacks?" Hill muttered beside him, and he only just realized that she clung to his arm. She obviously just noticed as well, and let go in a blink, cheeks regaining some of their color through an attractive pink blush. "D-Doctor… It wasn't supposed to be able to use flame yet…"

Frank stared at the blocked viewport, eyes hard, face still just as pale. Of all the scientists in the room, only he had been warned of Leviathan's dangers by Dr. Wit. And he had been stupid, naïve, eager enough to shrug them off as the rantings of a man in death's final throes.

"No… it wasn't."

He felt her gaze weighing on him, depending on him. "So… what does that mean?"

"It means…" He relinquished the headset to the Primary seat, placing it on its appropriate stand, and stepping back, far back, never taking his eyes off the glass panel. "It means… Dr. Whittaker knew something that the rest of us didn't. A secret… that died with him." Frank rubbed his chin.

Hill frowned. "What secret?"

Finally, he looked away from the panel to search her eyes. He looked for something… belief? Trust? Curiosity, even? But she was a psychiatrist. If she felt any of these things, she knew how to hide them well. He shook his head lightly, running his hand up his face to pinch the bridge of his nose. "That… I don't know."

_'You know… You _**see**_…"_

_"Stop… it…"_


	3. Chapter 2: Scent of a Coup

**A/N: Huzzah! I finally finished another chapter! 8D I commend you if you're still following this... Hope you enjoy! Reviews are appreciated, as always.**

_Chapter 2:_

_Scent of a Coup_

"Doctor!"

Frank jumped, and whirled on his heel to face the source of the new voice. The husky figure of Colonel Phillips, grey eyes hard and biting as ever, strode into the Observation Room, two officers flanking him. "We hear what sounds like a sonic boom, and the whole place shakes like a mini earthquake had hold of it! What in the Sam Hill is going on here!?"

"Leviathan is attacking the deck," rattled off one of the scientific underlings. "Energy levels spiking, brain activity is off the charts."

"It woke up?" the colonel snapped, brow furrowing immediately. He seemed to notice the closed panels for the first time.

Frank nodded, trying to bury his nerves under responsibility and logic. Like he'd been doing for years. "Yeah, it woke up, all right…"

"Why? Who was stupid enough to wake it up? Obviously got up on the wrong side of the bed!"

Shaking his head, Frank massaged his temples. "No one did."

"What?"

"No one did! No one woke it up; no one touched it, no one did anything. It woke itself up." Frank swallowed impulsively.

Phillips stared long and hard at him, and then glanced at the closed viewport once again. "Isn't that… you peoples' jobs? To wake it up?"

"It had self-induced the Hybernation mode in the first place," said Hill, still at Frank's side. "No one put it to sleep; it just… slept."

"And why weren't we aware of this?" The colonel's vein pulsed visibly on his forehead.

"We are authorized to share only so much, sir," Hill finished, and then hurried off to do her work, but not before she rested an assuring hand on Frank's elbow. He gave her a weary, but appreciating smile, and after returning it, she was gone.

"Man, you scientists…" muttered Phillips. "All secrets, doing just what the Big Dogs tell you. Well, son, I'm a Big Dog, too, and I think you have some explaining to do."

"Colonel Phillips."

The sophisticated voice, British by accent, came from the right and just behind the owner of the name it bespoke. Phillips turned, and over his shoulder, Frank spotted the financier of this whole project, Alexander Jameson. The man had flown in from his third honeymoon in Moscow as soon as the staff had alerted him that Leviathan had self-induced Hybernation.

"The doctor here takes orders from me," said Jameson, "and I take orders from the CIA, among other organizations. I won't have you pushing my prize scientist around."

A short man brought Jameson a white lab coat, which he shrugged on, making even that action look refined, dignified. He strode down the three steps to the main platform, and clapped Phillips (not too firmly; reluctantly, as if he were uncomfortable with the contact) on the shoulder. "You have your authority. Just not mine, yeah?"

Phillips just glared at him, and Frank tried to hide a small, amused grin. Jameson didn't bother hiding his, and instead flashed it boldly.

"Good man! Now, if you'll excuse me." He turned to Frank, expression all business again. "Dr. Hardy, what exactly went wrong?"

"Well, sir, it woke itself up. Just like it had put itself to sleep." Frank led the way over to the control boards. "Just as quick, no warning signs. The computer just alerted us that it was waking. It was watching the camera; it knew we were here. Looked right at me. Then blasted the window with liquid flames."

"You mean molten rock?" Jameson watched as Frank manipulated the controls.

Frank shook his head, trying to bring up a screen, a shot from somewhere in the Pit. "No, sir. Flames that splashed and oozed and stuck on everything."

Growing frustrated, Frank tried gaining access to every camera positioned in the Pit, and got no responses. All he did get was static, and he grumbled to himself. "What is going… I've got nothing. No feed, no visual, nothing!"

"Aren't the cameras in fireproof units?" asked Hill from across the room, to which Frank nodded. She frowned, and looked to the view window. "So why can't you access them?"

"I don't know!" Frank double and triple checked each camera, and nothing changed. "I… have… nothing! I have no way to see it, unless I open the port."

"And you don't want to do that because…?" Jameson asked, cocking a brow.

"When it blasted the port, not only did it spike the temp, but it started superheating the metal around the window."

"Yes, but isn't the metal flame-resistant?"

Frank nodded, leaning back on his heels. "The alloy we used in construction is the most flame resistant in the world. But that doesn't mean that when it does heat, it won't warp. If it warps, it not only weakens the metal, but it could create flaws, vulnerabilities in the structure than maybe we wouldn't be able to see, but Leviathan could. It would be able to sense the difference in the air, where the new current was coming from, and it would target it."

Jameson looked skeptical. "And you know this, doctor?"

"Yes," Frank said, frowning at the older man. He detected a tone in Jameson's words that he didn't like. "If you saw what I saw, you would to."

"You are sure no one did anything to wake it up? To provoke it?"

"No! Nothing at all. This was not an outburst of self-defence, Mr. Jameson; this was an open attack, a violent attack. There's no way around that. Something went wrong, and we could be in a lot of trouble."

A dark shadow crossed Jameson's face, and he looked Frank coldly in the eye. "What are you saying, Dr. Hardy?"

Frank returned the stare for the longest time, narrowing his eyes and matching wills against this new, unseen foe he sensed.

"I'm saying, sir, that we're losing control of the Beast. I'm strongly considering Termination." He said it low, quiet, so none of the others besides Jameson could hear him.

And hear him, the British man did. His pale countenance darkened further, and he was silent a split moment before lifting a hand to adjust his wire-rimmed glasses reservedly.

"Dr. Hardy, would you come with me, please." It was not a question. An order. Jameson spun on his heel, and marched out. After only a second of hesitation, Frank moved to follow.

Why did he suddenly feel very vulnerable?

_~*Leviathan*~_

"Doctor, I'd like you to meet Sergeant Coullsen, from the CIA, and Dr. Dimitri Milyukov from our Russian sector." Jameson gestured at each man respectively, and Frank tentatively shook their hands.

Coullsen shook his hand with a limp, unimpressed grip, and a quirked mouth that said he didn't take Frank seriously. "Doctor," the agent said in a mutter. Something in his stance and tone told Frank obviously that the young man didn't want to be here.

Milyukov, on the other hand, had a handshake like an iron vice, and a sly, deceivingly welcoming smile that made Frank want to shudder.

"Dr. Frank, it is a pleasure to see you again," said the Russian in his thick native accent as he released Frank's hand from the prison it had found itself in. His hand cramped, and he tried to flex it behind his back without anyone noticing. "I had hoped that it would be under better circumstances."

"I'm sure you did…" Milyukov had been trying to weasel his way into Frank's inherited position for years, and Frank trusted him about as far as he could throw him. Which, considering the Russian's hefty frame, was very limited indeed.

"Doctor, please sit down." Something in Jameson's tone told Frank it wasn't just a suggestion. He took a seat in the stiff leather chair in front of the opulent antique maritime desk, behind which Jameson sat in a high-backed desk chair. The financier leaned back casually, but Frank saw a calculating behind his eyes, and began to grow nervous.

"Please explain again what happened with Leviathan today."

Frank glanced between the three men before him, hesitating before taking a breath. "About a month ago, Leviathan self-induced Hybernation mode…" He glanced to Coullsen. "Meaning, it put itself into a regenerating sleep. It's programmed to do this in order to stimulate itself, to recharge, in a sense. Today, it woke itself up."

"It was disturbed?" Milyukov leaned back on the desk, cradling his broad chin in his palm.

Frank shook his head. "No – nothing touched it. The Pit was stable, as always, and nothing in the environment had changed since it went to sleep. It just… woke up. And then after a minute, it blasted the viewport with liquid flames."

"Mr. Jameson informed us that Leviathan can't produce fire for several months from now," said Coullsen, and the statement irked Frank enough to make him temporarily abandon courtesy.

"Yes, well, it did," he quipped, sending the agent a sharp glare. "I can't explain how, beyond a hunch."

"What is your hunch?" asked Milyukov.

Frank hesitated at that, casting Jameson a wary glance. The older man still looked leisure as could be in his office chair, but the steadiness of his gaze wordlessly informed Frank that the ball was in his court.

"My hunch… is that Leviathan has reacted more strongly to the growth hormones that we initially predicted. I think it's aging faster than we planned. But… there's something else…"

"More hunches?" Coullsen still looked unimpressed.

"Sergeant, please, let the doctor speak," Jameson said, and waved a hand to Frank. "Please, continue, Dr. Hardy."

"I can't be sure… I need to run some more diagnostics," Frank said, looking to Jameson to avoid glaring at Coullsen. "I need to test my 'hunches' before I say anything more."

The ball was in Jameson's court, now. The other two turned to the financier as well, and for a long moment, silence weighed over them like a cloud. Frank stared at his employer, hoping beyond hoping that Jameson would grant him the chance. He needed to study Leviathan more now that it had awakened; he needed to know what woke it up, and why, as well as test what he dreaded was true…

"Very well," said Jameson, nodding perceptively. "Run the diagnostics, and report back to us whatever you find."

Frank nodded. "May I go now, sir?"

"Yes, you may."

Without seeming in too much of a rush, Frank stood, nodded to the other two gentlemen, and strode out of the room. Even as he headed directly for the Observation Room, he had to suppress a shudder at the swelling feeling of dread that choked him, made it harder to breath easy. What was that all about?


End file.
